Paraphrase on the Book of Job, Chapter 8
CHAP. VIII.
1. BIldad the Shuhite another of1. Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said, Jobs friends, having all this while given eare to the reply which he made to Eliphaz, at last interposed himselfe, and said:
2. How long wilt thou persevere2. How long wilt thou speake these things? and how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong wind? to take such liberty of language toward God, and by thy violent passions, and storming speeches bring upon thy selfe fierce destruction.
3. Wilt thou make God to be unrighteous3. Doth God pervert judgements? or doth the Almighty pervert Justice? in judgement, and the Almighty to goe against the rules of justice, by conceiving him to inflict punishment and not for sinne?
4. Take heed what thou doest, and4. If thy children have sinned against him, and he have cast them away for their transgression: be not stubborne; but confesse the Lord to be just, although (thy children having sinned against him) hee hath suddenly and in his fierce displeasure, even utterly thus cut them off for their transgression.
5. And make timely use of it for5. If thou wouldest seeke unto God betimes, and make thy supplication to the Almighty. thy selfe; let it move thee before it be too late, whilest God in mercy gives thee time, to lay aside thy stubbornnesse, and to repaire unto him in humble confession, and with supplication of his pardon for thy owne sinne.
6. And doubt not, but if thou dost6. If thou wert pure and upright, surely now he would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousnesse prosperous. now turne unto the Lord in sincerity by repentance, not justifying thy selfe, but confessing thy sinnes unfeignedly, without hypocrisie, which hath brought this punishment upon thee from the Lord, hee would not any longer thus forget thee, but would certainly remember thee in mercy, and make thee and all that belongs unto thee prosperous and blessed.
7. And though thou art now but7. Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end shall greatly increase. poore and miserable, yet then shouldst thou see the power of the Lord bringing to passe a wonderfull alteration in thy behalfe, by making thee both rich and happy.
8. And that thou maist be the better8. For enquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thy selfe to search of their fathers. perswaded to believe mee, and to take this course: consider and call to minde all the former ages of our longlived forefathers from the beginning of the world.
9. For wee desire not to oversway9. (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our daies upon earth are a shadow) thy faith by our owne testimony, who in comparison of our fathers are of no experience nor knowledge by reason of the shortnesse of our lives now, to what theirs was then.
10. And therfore I gladly put thee over10. Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their heart? to the testimonies of former times, wherat thou canst not, except for partiality, and they will all teach and tell thee, and bona fide confirme unto thee, the very same which I have said, How that God never punished any but for their sin, nor rejected a penitent person
11. And look how ordinary a thing11. Can the rush grow without mire? can the flag g…ow without water? it is for a mis-rooted rush that quickly springs up out of a little moisture, but not much mire, or the flag that growes without the river in some little quantity of water.
12. Even then, when it flourisheth12. Whilest it is yet in his greennesse, and not cut downe, it withereth before any other herb. most and promiseth best unexpectedly to wither and die (the moisture which should feed it, being exhaled and dried up) without any hand cutting it downe before other herbes of lesse shew but better rooting.
13. So usuall a thing it is with God13. So are the paths of all that forget God, and the hypocrites hope shal perish. to overthrow the prosperous estate of all such as walke not humbly, nor thankfully before him, & to cause the ungrounded hopes of the hypocrite strangely by his immediate hand to perish, because he was not rooted on God.
14. The foundation which he hath14. Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spiders web. laid to himselfe to hope and trust in, being rotten and unsound, shall faile him, God shall violently destroy it, and suddenly sweepe it quite away by his just iudgement.
15. He shall repose great confidence15. He shall leane up on his house, but it sha not stand; hee shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure. in the felicity of himselfe, and his posterity, but it shall vanish, he shall promise himselfe a perpetuity of it, but it shall quickly have an end.
16. Like a tree in sommer he makes16. He is green before the Sun, and his branch shooteth forth in his garden. a faire shew whilest the sun of prosperity shines upon him; and growes luxuriantly eminent in the place where he lives, whilest hee remaines rooted in prosperity and pleasure.
17. Possessing himselfe amply and17. His roots are wrapped about the heape, and seeth the place of stones. securely of all earthly happines, lengthening his teather to the very uttermost bounds thereof; like a flourishing tree, whose roots are deepely intrenched, and strongly incorporated into the ground, and which spread themselves so farre as ever there is any earth to receive and nourish them.
18. But for all that, when the time18. If he destroy him from his place, then it shall deny him, saying, I have not seene thee. comes that God will destroy and roote him out, the very place where he thus grew shall spew him out, and by any remaining symptome shall not so much as be acknown that ever he was there.
19. This is the upshot of an hypocrites19. Behold, this is the joy of his way and out of the earth shall others grow. happinesse, and this is his portion at last, that both he and all that was his shall come to ruine, whereas others by the blessing of God shall grow great out of a little.
20. For the case is otherwaies with20. Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will he help the evill doers. the humble and upright man. God will not rejected him, nor leave him succourlesse, no more then hee will have pity upon the proud presumptuous hypocrite.
21. But will be sure to remedy thy21. Till hee fill thy mouth with laughing, and thy lips with rejoycing. afflictions, and not to leave thee till he have advanced thee from this lowest step of misery, to the highest step of consolation, if thou wilt but take this way of humbling thy selfe in confession and supplication before him.
22. Then shall all thine enemies (who22. They that hate thee shall be cloathed with shame, & the dwelling place of the wicked, shall come to nought. now are risen by thy downefall) be as thou art, stript naked of all their glory; and thou thy selfe restored, and this thy becomming righteous shall make the Lord punish their wickednesse committed against thee with the same desolation that now hee hath brought upon thee, even with the ruine of them and theirs.